The Key to Happiness
by Natsuuro
Summary: Jade muses about What it is to be happy, and along the way makes a new friend. Oneshot!


**Natsuuro**: This is set earlier in the game. Sooo... No spoilers in particular, I don't think. Ah well. Enjoy. Also, I am INDEED working on Tears of a Gem and will be trying to get chapter 12 up soon.

I do not own Jade or Tales of the Abyss! I do own Freckles, though!

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Jade turned to look out the bay window that sat at the far end of the inn room and sighed lightly, trying not to disturb the other two occupants in the room. That would be hard, though. Guy's snoring, mixed with Luke's rock-like sleep beat a sigh by a mile. A bird flew by the window, interrupting his vision just enough to snap him out of a daze he'd set into while laying there.

No, he wasn't getting any sleep like this. He sat up and sighed, rubbing his eyes and rubbing the back of his head. Standing up, he walked silently as a cat outside the door, shutting it just so behind him. The Grand Chokman inn was well cleaned, which, gladly, meant that the doors didn't squeak much. He headed down the hall in his pajamas and shoes- which consisted of the undershirt, shorts and shoes from his uniform. He didn't think it would help to return to the room, so he continued, ignoring the cold that drifted on his bare face.

At this rare time, Jade felt... old, vulnerable. He shook his head and went down the stairs where a night shift clerk smiled at him through the dim light and let him pass to the door. He walked out and breathed in the familiar salty air. He continued going, finding himself sitting in a bench, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees and his face blank. For once, Jade Curtiss didn't know what to do with himself. He ran his hands through his bangs and leaned back, putting his hands in his lap. He closed his eyes, thinking on the past events. There was so much to drink in at one time.

"What are you going to do with yourself, Jade?"

Normally, matters like that of what was happening currently didn't bug him. After all, if such matters as these came to his attention usually, he'd just brush them away. Not his area of expertise. Of course, according to Jade Curtiss, nothing and everything was his expertise. Here he was, sitting on a bench in the middle of the night, contemplating, of all things, the past. Normally he didn't look at it. Though... Normally, he didn't run around the entirety of Auldrant with a Fon Master and his guardian, a mealodist who sang Yulian hymns, a bratty noble, and his guardian. Strange how fate smacked him upside the head with... Well, a liger queen, as it were.

"And to think, the whole thing is my fault." He muttered, brushing his hair back again, though that did little more than to adjust the way his bangs sat on his eyebrows. "Well, no use..."

Something pushed against his arm and he looked to his left where a gray-brown cat sat, mewling at him, its tail swishing behind. He stared at it a moment and looked forward again. He felt it push at his arm and poke it's head through the crook of his elbow. He stared at it a moment, then sighed heavily at it, putting a hand on it's small head.

"You're as pushy as Luke..." he muttered, finally picking up the cat and setting him down on his lap. He felt it purr at him as it curled up and stared at him. It had brown spots all over its face and stripes from it's forehead to its tail. He (Jade, being of the male persuasion, naturally assumed it was male. He wasn't going to check for gender, though.) had a long tail, which was short haired, like the rest of him. On his paws were four rings of the same color. He had a light pink nose with long whiskers. His ears were permanently folded back, making Jade assume it was a Scottish fold.

"No use getting frustrated, I suppose..." Jade pondered. "People spend their whole lives focusing on not getting frustrated, and then get frustrated in the process. And then they're frustrated at themselves for getting frustrated. And soon everyone's frustrated. So I suppose getting frustrated in the first place is meaningless."

The cat mewled at him affectionately as he scratched him behind the ears and along his small neck. Jade's hand caught on something and he pulled up a reddish color with a D-ring. Three tags sat on it. One to proclaim he'd had his rabies shots, one to say his name, and the other to say the address of his home. The name tag bore "FRECKLES".

Jade stood up, the, now fussy, Freckles in his arms wriggling to get comfortable, then settling when he was.

Freckles mewled at him, pawing at a clump of his brown hair. He tugged at it and Jade tugged back, not liking the sudden attention to his messy bed-head. He swatted the cat's paw, but found it stuck in his hair and sighed, defeated, letting Freckles duke it out with that clump. Freckles suddenly hissed and yanked on his head angrily, taking a swipe at the hair with his free paw. Jade leaned his head back a little and dislodged the other paw from his hair a second later. A nasty knot now sat on the side of his head, but he continued walking, Freckles cleaning his paw as if he'd been injured.

"I suppose... The secret to happiness is to not worry about getting frustrated, which is unavoidable. If it's unavoidable, then it's fate. And if it's fate, then we have no choice but to follow it."

Jade shook his head as he turned down a street, wiping a tickle from his cheek. Surprisingly, something warm and wet came away with his hand. He looked at his hand to faintly see something small and red. Freckles batted at the bloodied hand and Jade pulled his hand away. He left the blood on his cheek. Most likely from the cat's paw when he'd swiped at him earlier.

"Of course. What happens if you don't believe in fate? Well, then. We just go back to the fact that happiness comes from the unavoidable fact that sooner rather than later, you'll get frustrated."

Freckles meowed at him and shifted to peer over his shoulder, trying to launch himself. His back paws, Jade found, were declawed, and thus, grabbing Freckles' collar was no hassle or harm to the Colonel. He pulled Freckles back down and scratched him behind the ears. Come to think of it, Jade was getting a little frustrated with this cat.

"If you're going to get frustrated, which is unavoidable, you're avoiding happiness. Frustration is unavoidable. You can't be happy. Which means..." he paused a moment to think, and also to pull Freckles down again. "You can be happy if you realize you can't be happy? That doesn't make sense."

Freckles was moving around more and Jade was aware that the house a few doors down had lights on. He assumed, as he compared the tag to the home address, that this was Freckles' home. He went to the front door and set Freckles down. The cat stared up at him with wide green eyes and mewled at him again.

"Shhh..." he said quietly to the cat. Freckled cocked his little head at the Colonel as Jade walked off, hearing the door open with a squeak behind him.

"You can be happy once you realize avoiding frustration and concentration on frustration is inevitable. Therefore, happiness is realizing what you can and cannot control. Like frustration."

Jade arrived at the inn and waved to the night clerk as he headed up the stairs. As he took off his boots and glasses, he realized he was tired. And he felt a little... lighter...

And Jade realized it was pointless to get frustrated over small things. And that getting frustrated over large things was going to happen. But that was what happiness was, he supposed.

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**A/N**

Drabble, drabble, drabble. This wasn't supposed to be particularly strong or anything just a little idea I had. Little Freckles is cute! At least I think so....

Please R&R!!!


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